To the Williams community,
I write to honor the death of retired Director of Mental Health Services Dr. John Allen Miner, who passed away peacefully at home on September 7 at the age of 74, surrounded by loved ones.
John joined Williams in 1998 as a staff psychiatrist after working for a year as a consulting psychiatrist. In 2009 he became co-director, with Margi Wood, of what was then known as Psychological Services (later Mental Health Services, and now Integrative Wellbeing Services). He retired from the college in 2015.
It was under John’s leadership that the Center developed an internship program with Smith College’s graduate program in social work, as well as formalizing our postgraduate fellowship program. Both initiatives helped increase the size and diversity of our clinical staff and programmatic offerings. As an ongoing consequence of his efforts, the college now sponsors two-year postgraduate psychotherapy fellowships in multicultural/integrative care along with ongoing graduate internships.
Dr. Craig Piers, the current director of education, training and assessment in IWS, recalls, “In addition to being national leader in college mental health, John strengthened the clinical services provided at Williams in foundational ways. He was an extraordinary clinician—both in the areas of psychiatry and psychotherapy (increasingly rare these days)—who always made time to see one more student. He was also deeply committed to training the next generation of clinicians and his support and encouragement were critically important in establishing our post-graduate clinical fellowship. Finally, and most important, he was an exceedingly kind, warm and humble person. He will be missed terribly.”
Kim Tremblay, Integrative Wellbeing Services Administrative Coordinator, says, “John was totally unflappable. I could load his schedule back to back with students all day long and he never complained. He was brilliant, kind and used to tell me things like ‘you’re always right, Kim… but we may need to do things a little differently.’ He was considerate of everybody.”
In addition to his work on campus, John strengthened the college’s cross-institutional collaborations and the profession as a whole. In partnership with the Austen Riggs Center he founded the College Counseling Conference, now entering its 20th year. He held leadership positions in the New England College Health Association and American College Health Association and taught and supervised numerous psychiatry residents in the psychiatry program at the Berkshire Medical Center—work that he continued after retirement.
When he did retire the college citation celebrated these many contributions as follows:
John is a highly respected and sought after professional known for his expertise and caring in relationships with students and their families. He served not only as the student’s psychiatrist, but as a psychotherapist for them as well. He was meticulous in his preparation and in the work he did to ensure the coordination for our students with their home treating physician and with his colleagues.
He supported the work of the entire Center and was instrumental in seeing the benefits of an integrated Health Center. He was a champion of ensuring that the intersections of care served our students and promoted both the continuity and teamwork between Psych Counseling Services and Medical Services. A recognized leader in college counseling services both at the local level and throughout the Northeast, John was a mentor to many during his tenure at the Health Center, both professionally and as someone who truly enjoyed the team there.
I will close with this loving reminiscence from Director of Integrative Wellbeing Services Wendy Adam: “John was a gentle titan of the field of college mental health nationally and early on brought a deep understanding of the coming need for specially trained clinicians to work with and on behalf of college students. His practice transformed not only the individual lives of students with whom he worked, but multiple generations of clinicians and the very roots of our IWS service. We would not be who we are today without the clinical wisdom and integrity of his practice and leadership while at Williams. John’s legacy of humble brilliance and compassionate leadership lives on in our current staff who were mentored by him. Our team celebrates his life and work and, especially at this time, holds in mind and heart the many people who love, admire and will deeply miss this gifted and generous human being.”
The family invites John’s friends and colleagues to a celebration of life at the First Congregational Church of Stockbridge on Saturday, October 5, at 1pm. Details can be found in the family’s obituary. In lieu of flowers, they encourage everyone to “go explore the world, support your local hardware store, and leave every place better than you found it.”
Our thoughts are with John Miner’s family, friends and former colleagues in the wake of this loss.
Maud